


Hearts

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: In A Better World [8]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Acceptance, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Feels, Feels, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 03:21:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18460415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: Arya comes home to her family. (Future flash)





	Hearts

Arya slipped into Storm's End wearing a stranger's face, knowing that Lady Baratheon couldn't be seen entering the castle at this time of night. She shed the servant's gown in a quiet corner, exchanging them for a tunic and pants similar to what she commonly wore at night. The face was slipped into a secret pocket, so that when she stepped back into the torchlight she was lady of the castle once again.  
  
But she did not care about the castle, not on a night when she couldn't quite shake the cold that still lingered inside her. Arya didn't regret a single person she'd killed, tonight or any other, but the woman who could slit a man's throat and feel nothing was not a woman she wanted anywhere near her three small children. That woman could -- and should -- protect them from a distance, but she refused to risk having her children look into their mother's eyes and see the ice inside her.  
  
So when she went to her daughter's room, she stayed firmly in the doorway. Four-year-old Evan had snuck into his big sister's room, as he was wont to do any time he had a nightmare, and the two were cuddled up together like direwolf pups. Arya leaned against the doorframe and let herself just watch them breathe, reminding herself of what it meant to be human.  
  
After a few endless moments, Evan opened his eyes. "Mama," he whispered, his sleepy smile full of light. One of his small hands reached out towards her. "You came home safe."  
  
Whatever ice remained inside her chest cracked and crumbled away, and she moved toward her son as if pulled on a string. "As I always will. Were you worried?"  
  
Evan nodded, the sunlight in his expression clouding over. "You were gone two whole days and nights. But Papa said he would feel it if something bad happened."  
  
Gendry had proven to be quite the romantic, but that was fanciful even for him. "He would, would he?" she asked softly, kneeling down beside the bed. "Did he happen to say how?"  
  
"You have his heart in your chest." He patted his own as an example. "If you got hurt, his heart would feel it because it would get hurt, too."  
  
Her chest squeezed tight, a fierce, sweet pain. "He's right. Just like I would feel it if something happened to him."  
  
Evan smiled at that, even though he was already drifting back to sleep. "He has your heart?"  
  
Arya nodded, gently smoothing a lock of hair back from her son's forehead. "Yes. And we both gave pieces of our hearts to you and your sisters." She blinked against suddenly stinging eyes. "That means we'd both feel it if something happened to any one of you."  
  
It wasn't until she'd had her own children that Arya had truly begun to understand her mother. With everything that had happened, her heart must have broken a hundred times over before the Freys killed her.  
  
If anyone even _thought_ of touching her children, their death would make Walter Frey's look like a mercy.  
  
Evan must have seen something pass over her face, but instead of being scared he reached out for her again. "It's okay, Mama," he whispered, his small fingers gently stroking her cheek. "We're safe, too."

She swallowed, pressing a kiss against Evan's hair as she straightened. "Thank all the gods for that."  
  
He had already drifted back to sleep by the time Arya silently left the room, making her way to her and Gendry's chamber. Corynn's crib was in there as well, and she gave herself a few moments to watch her youngest sleep. Only a fool woke a sleeping baby, but she could imagine her daughter's smile if she did wake up. Maybe they'd all inherited their father's strange immunity to her ice.  
  
Maybe, because they all had pieces of her heart, they could simply see past it.  
  
"You planning on standing there all night?"

She couldn't stop her lips from curving at Gendry's quiet question, his voice far more awake than it should be at this time of night. "I thought you were sensible enough to be asleep by now."  
  
"I tried, but my lady had to go kill some people who needed it." There was only warm amusement in his voice. "I don't sleep terribly well unless she's in bed with me."  
  
The warmth in her own chest increased. "I'd hate to keep my lord from his rest." She slipped out of her clothes, crawling into bed next to him. "I am carrying his heart around with me, after all."  
  
He sighed at that, even as he pulled her close. "The children told you about that one, did they?"  
  
"Yes, they did." She rested her head against Gendry's chest, listening to his heart. Her heart, really.  
  
He wrapped his other arm around her as well. "Doesn't sound like you argued."  
  
"I wouldn't." Her throat tightened. "I would feel it if something happened to you, too."  
  
He pressed a kiss against her hair. "I know you would."

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my [original fiction,](https://jennifferwardell.wixsite.com/mybooks) my [blog,](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


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